Chatman v. Otani

ANTHONY CHATMAN, FRANCISCO ALVARADO, ZACHARY GRANADOS, TYNDALE MOBLEY,and JOSEPH DEGUAIR, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. MAX N. OTANI, Director of State of Hawai'i, Department of Public Safety, in his official capacity, Defendant.

CIVIL NO. 21-00268 JAO-KJM

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF HAWAII

July 13, 2021

ORDER (1) GRANTING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR PROVISIONAL CLASS CERTIFICATION AND (2) GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER

This putative class action concerns the alleged conditions in Hawaii's prisons and jails that have contributed to multiple COVID-19 outbreaks. Plaintiffs Anthony Chatman ("Chatman"), Francisco Alvarado ("Alvarado"), Zachary Granados ("Granados"), Tyndale Mobley ("Mobley"), and Joseph Deguair ("Deguair") (collectively, "Plaintiffs") contend that the Department of Public Safety ("DPS"), headed by Defendant Max Otani ("Defendant"), has mishandled the pandemic and failed to implement its Pandemic Response Plan ("Response Plan") in violation of their Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Plaintiffs seek provisional class certification and request a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction; namely, the appointment of a special master to oversee the development and implementation of Plaintiffs' proposed response plan. For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Motion for Provisional Class Certification ("Class Certification Motion"), ECF No. 20, and GRANTS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order ("Injunction Motion"). ECF No. 6.

Defendant is ORDERED to immediately implement and adhere to DPS's Response Plan at all eight DPS facilities and comply with the specific conditions outlined herein.

BACKGROUND

I. Factual History¹

Hawaii's state prisons and jails have been plagued by COVID-19 outbreaks at five of its eight facilities, resulting in the infection of more than 50% of the inmate population (1,532 inmates out of a population of approximately 3,000) and 272 DPS staff, and seven deaths. ECF No. 18 ("SAC") ¶¶ 1-2, 113-14; see alsohttp://dps.hawaii.gov/blog/2020/03/17/coronavirus-covid-19-information-and-resources/ (last visited July 13, 2021).

The first outbreak occurred at Oahu Community Correctional Center ("OCCC") in August 2020, and to date, OCCC has had 452 cases of COVID-19. SAC ¶ 102.

In November 2020, Waiawa Correctional Facility ("Waiawa") experienced an outbreak, causing 90% of the inmate population to contract COVID-19. Id. ¶ 103. During the outbreak, dirty clothes from Waiawa were laundered at Halawa Correctional Facility ("Halawa") by inmates and staff, and Halawa staff were forced to work at Waiawa due to staff shortages there. Id. ¶ 104. These practices resulted in an outbreak at Halawa, where 544 inmates became infected and seven died from COVID-19. Id. ¶ 105.

In March 2021, an outbreak at Maui Community Correctional Center ("MCCC") resulted in 100 inmate COVID-19 infections, which represents one-third of MCCC's inmate population. Id. ¶ 106.

The most recent outbreak occurred at Hawai'i² Community Correctional Center ("HCCC"), beginning in late May 2021. Id. ¶ 107. Within three weeks,two-thirds of the inmate population contracted COVID-19. Id. Twenty DPS staff and 228 pretrial detainees tested positive for COVID-19 during this period.³ Id. ¶ 5. Plaintiffs attribute this rapid and extensive spread to the allegedly unsanitary conditions in holding areas at HCCC, most notably a room known as the "fishbowl." Id. The fishbowl is approximately 31.5 feet by 35.3 feet⁴ and 40 to 60 pretrial detainees have been housed there, with no toilet or running water, causing detainees to urinate and sometimes defecate in the room. Id. ¶¶ 5-6; ECF No. 22-2 ¶ 38.

A. Plaintiffs

Plaintiffs are currently incarcerated or detained at DPS correctional facilities in Hawai'i.

1. Anthony Chatman

Chatman has been incarcerated at Halawa since July 2019. SAC ¶ 123. While Chatman was housed in module 4A-2 in December 2020, two inmates who tested positive for COVID-19 were placed in his quad, then-designated a COVID-negative quad, and allowed to mingle with other inmates in the quad without masks. Id. ¶¶ 124, 127-28. Nearly all inmates in the quad tested positive forCOVID-19 shortly thereafter, including Chatman's roommate. Id. ¶ 129. Chatman's roommate nevertheless remained in their cell, and Chatman then contracted COVID-19. Id. ¶¶ 130-31. He too stayed in the cell, "sick as a dog," without receiving meaningful medical treatment. Id. ¶ 131. Chatman claims that upon his departure from his cell, it was not cleaned before the next occupant moved in. Id. ¶ 132.

Chatman filed a grievance after contracting COVID-19 and appealed each denial to exhaust his administrative remedies. Id. ¶¶ 133-34. Despite the COVID-19 outbreak at Halawa, Chatman has yet to see any social distancing practices — during recreation and dining, or in the common areas and cells — and reports that 60 people eat shoulder to shoulder in an approximately 400 square foot room. Id. ¶¶ 135-36.

2. Francisco Alvarado

Alvarado, a 52 year old inmate with lupus, was previously incarcerated at Halawa from 2019 to March 2021, and is currently incarcerated at Kulani Correctional Facility ("Kulani"). Id. ¶¶ 137-40. At Halawa, Alvarado was a module clerk who prepared paperwork for inmates' movement within the facility and delivered meals to cells. Id. ¶ 141. He witnessed inmates remaining in their cells after testing positive for COVID-19, comingling of COVID-positive inmates with asymptomatic inmates, and transfer of asymptomatic inmates into unsanitizedcells previously occupied by COVID-positive inmates. Id. ¶ 142. During meal deliveries, Alvarado was exposed to COVID-positive inmates, who were not forced to wear masks, through "open screen" cell doors. Id. ¶ 143.

When Alvarado contracted COVID-19 in December 2020, he requested medical assistance but received little to none. Id. ¶¶ 144, 146. His underlying medical condition caused him to sustain serious damage to his kidneys. Id. ¶ 145. Alvarado filed a grievance regarding the conditions that caused him to contract COVID-19 but he never received a response. Id. ¶¶ 146, 148-49. He was initially informed that the COVID-19 outbreak created a backlog of grievances and was instructed to file another grievance. Id. ¶ 150. However, between January and March 2021, he was repeatedly told that no grievance forms were available. Id. ¶¶ 151-53.

3. Joseph Deguair

Deguair, an asthmatic, has been incarcerated at HCCC since December 4, 2020. Id. ¶¶ 154-55. Before the May 2021 COVID-19 outbreak at HCCC, Deguair noticed an absence of mitigation efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Id. ¶ 157. For example, he reports seeing symptomatic detainees housed with those who had not been tested for COVID-19, and social interaction between COVID-positive detainees and the general population during recreation time. Id. ¶¶ 157-59.

Due to these conditions, Deguair requested an inmate grievance form almost every day during the last two weeks of May to file a grievance. Id. ¶ 160. Multiple Adult Corrections Officers ("ACOs") told Deguair there were no forms and that he could not file a grievance. Id. ¶¶ 161-62. Since testing positive for COVID-19 on June 1, 2020, Deguair has requested a grievance form daily, only to be told none were available. Id. ¶¶ 163-64. ACOs told Deguair that there was nothing they could do to help him obtain a form or file a grievance. Id. ¶¶ 165, 167. Even when he attempted to file a grievance by phone, he was told during the call that he could not file a grievance and would have to wait. ECF No. ¶ 166.

4. Tyndale Mobley

Mobley received a COVID-19 vaccine prior to his incarceration at HCCC. Id. ¶¶ 168, 170. COVID-positive inmates were initially contained within the main HCCC building, though staff moved freely without masks between the main building and the unit housing Mobley. Id. ¶¶ 172-73. Mobley once confronted a guard who returned from the main building without a mask, and she responded that she did not want or need to wear a mask. Id. ¶ 174. This guard contracted COVID-19. Id. ¶ 174.b.

At the beginning of June 2021, two inmates with COVID-19 were housed in Mobley's cell block. Id. ¶ 175. Two additional COVID-positive inmates were moved into the cell block and the four infected inmates were instructed to stay onthe opposite end of the room from the non-infected inmates. Id. ¶ 176. Nearly all the inmates in the cell block then contracted COVID-19. Id. ¶ 177. Mobley and the COVID-positive inmates shared restroom facilities and he saw no efforts by staff to sanitize the facilities. Id. ¶¶ 178-79.

Mobley attempted to file grievances every day starting in late May or early June 2021, but the guards said they had no grievance forms and that there was no way to file a grievance. Id. ¶¶ 180-82, 184-85. Mobley was diagnosed with COVID-19 on June 6, 2021. Id. ¶ 183.

5. Zachary Granados

Granados has been incarcerated at Waiawa since August 2020. Id. ¶ 186. In November 2020, certain inmates housed in Waiawa's building 9 displayed COVID-19 symptoms. Id. ¶ 188. Upon testing positive in the medical unit, they returned to building 9, where nearly every inmate later contracted COVID-19. Id. ¶ 188.a-c. Around the same time, inmate kitchen workers contracted COVID-19 so Granados, along with other inmates from building 10, filled in for the COVID-positive kitchen workers. Id. ¶¶ 187, 189.a. The kitchen was not sanitized before the building 10 inmates stepped in, and four days later, one of those inmates tested positive for COVID-19. Id. ¶ 189.b-c. Guards in building 9 wore "hazardous materials" suits because building 9 housed the COVID-positive inmates. Id. ¶ 190. Granados saw the guards wear these suits into building 10 to conduct head counts. Id. ¶ 191.

Approximately 30 COVID-positive inmates...